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N64 Emulator Wars

I heard that PJ64 is running malware and adware in their latest builds and is best to steer away from that. Retroarch offers a couple of other N64 cores. Which one would you recommend so that i can best enjoy N64 titles that still make sense today and are worth my time

Re: N64 Emulator Wars

pj64 does not have malware the installer does. There was a pj64 portable but hard to find now. You could download on a computer install and then copy the program files to another computer if you have a computer for a guinea pig. 1964 is a good alternative where retro arch is something in its self.

Re: N64 Emulator Wars

Well its more about the plugin. The stability of the game changes from version to version. Some do not like 2.x, most hate 2.2 and a few like 2.3. and say is fixed stuff. 1.x most for most games. Though when it comes to game compatibility you need to look at plugins.

Re: N64 Emulator Wars

Originally Posted by ulaoulao

Well its more about the plugin. The stability of the game changes from version to version. Some do not like 2.x, most hate 2.2 and a few like 2.3. and say is fixed stuff. 1.x most for most games. Though when it comes to game compatibility you need to look at plugins.

So for each game i have to do the plugin compatibility check for optimal results? Isnt there some frontend or a way that adjusts this automatically and prepare each rom appropriately to save us the time

Re: N64 Emulator Wars

Commonly Used
Glide64 2.0.0.1
Shunyuan's HLE Audio (set to LLE)
HatCat's MLE RSP or Zilmar's RSP
Either of the RSP plugin should be fine for most games. Keep both of them around just in case. Although, HatCat's RSP plugin is more compatible, but Zilmar's tends to be faster. Keep in mind that Glide64 2.0.0.1 is the same as Glide64 Final. Glide64 2.0.0.1 is just a merge of Glide64, GlideHQ, and Glitch64 (which of course the final version has) to be one file, but limits you to certain settings that cannot be changed with the emulator.
Best Performance
Glide64 Final
Azimer's HLE Audio
Zilmar's RSP
Make sure you configure the graphics plugin to show texture enhancement options. Then you'll have an extra tab to change more options. Goto the texture enhancement tab and click on the button that gives best performance and it should improve framerate once you saved the settings. There's also another button for best texture quality. There's no need to touch the other plugins. Recommended for most emulators.
Accuracy
Shunyuan's SoftGraphic
Shunyuan's HLE Audio
HatCat's MLE RSP
Do not expect to run the emulator with these plugins without a powerful PC. Audio can mislead easily if it's not in sync with the graphics when using without a powerful PC. Gives best and most accurate appearance, but will give up a big amount of framerates just to run it.
HatCat's Pixel-Accurate N64 plugin - Based on Angrylion's RDP code and the MAME/MESS RDP renders pixel-perfect native resolution N64 graphics. It's even more accurate and slower than Shunyuan's SoftGraphic HLE plugin.

Mupen64PlusEdit

Mupen64Plus has its own set of plugins which are incompatible with plugins used in other emulators. Here is an overview of recommended setups.

Commonly Used
Video: Glide64 or Glide64mk2
RSP: cxd4-hlevideo
Glide64mk2 is just Glide64 with additional tweaks and enhancements for use with Mupen64Plus. The hlevideo variant of the cxd4 RSP is basically a port of HatCat's MLE RSP plugin for Project64. This appears to be the best combination for use with most games, though toasters may have performance issues.
Best Performance and Graphics
Video: Rice
RSP: rsp-hle
These are Mupen64Plus's default plugins. Rice's Video is a plugin used also with other N64 emulators, most known for its support for hi-res texture packs, now enhanced for Mupen64plus and it also has support for Bilinear, Trilinear and Anisotropic Filtering, texture scaling and up to 16x MSAA.There are many versions and forks of this plugin but generally it's less accurate than Glide64 and may have graphical glitches on some games, but it does well enough for most others and is quite fast. The default RSP plugin appears to be a slightly touched up port of vanilla Mupen64's RSP. Use this combination if you want best graphics or have a lower end PC and can't handle the General Use setup.
Accuracy/Rogue Squadron
Video: z64
RSP: cxd4
z64 is a port of z64gl, a low-level emulation video plugin for N64 emulators. It comes with its own accompanying z64 RSP, but cxd4 (a port of HatCat's RSP Interpreter plugin) appears to be more accurate and very well optimized. This setup is capable of playing difficult games like Rogue Squadron with very few graphical glitches, and faster than on Project64 to boot.
HatCat's Pixel-Accurate N64 plugin(Only available with RetroArch version of Mupen64Plus) - Based on Angrylion's RDP code and the MAME/MESS RDP renders pixel-perfect native resolution N64 graphics. It's even more accurate and slower than Shunyuan's SoftGraphic HLE plugin